Mars Mineral Linked to Some of the Earliest Living Organisms on Earth

A certain mineral on Mars may point to the fact that there may have been past life on the Red Planet. Scientists have discovered that the earliest living organisms on Earth were capable of creating this mineral, which may hint that similar microbes could have done the same on Mars.

The clay-mineral stevensite has been used since ancient times. In fact, it was once used by Nubian women as a beauty treatment; before now, though, researchers believed that these deposits could only be formed in harsh conditions like volcanic lava and hot alkali lakes. Now, scientists have found that living microbes create an environment that allows stevensite to form, raising new questions about stevensite that has been found on Mars.

In this case, the researchers found that microbes can be encrusted by stevensite, which protects their insides and provides the rigidity to allow them to build reef-like structures called "microbioalites." These microbialites are some of the earliest large-scale evidence of life on Earth. Joining together, the organisms built enormous structures that could rival some of today's coral reefs.

While scientists previously assumed that stevensite needed highly alkaline conditions to form, such as what can be found in volcanic soda lakes, it now seems that the stevensite microbialites can also grow in a lake that's less salty than seawater and with near-neutral pH.

"It's much more likely that the stevensite on Mars is made geologically, from volcanic activity," said Bob Burne, one of the researchers, in a news release. "But our finding-that stevensite can form around biological organisms-will encourage re-interpretation of these Martian deposits and their possible links to life on that planet."

The findings reveal a little bit more about how stevensite forms and also shows how these microbes could have a major role in this mineral's creation. More specifically, it offers another explanation for the stevensite on Mars. That said, more research will need to be conducted before any conclusions are drawn about how the stevensite formed on the Red Planet.